Courtney's Wedding
Posted: May 11th, '11, 22:38
My cousin Courtney got married on Friday, May 6. Sydney and her cousin Kendall were the flower girls. Mike and I have been really nervous about the wedding. Sydney is still so shy that we were afraid she wouldn’t walk down the aisle. We had explained the whole process to her, and she seemed excited about it, but I didn’t think she really understood what would be happening.
On Thursday, I picked her up early from school to take her to the rehearsal. Mike couldn’t get off work early to come with us, so it was just us girls. Usually when I pick her up early from school, right at the end of nap time, she is tired and cranky. This time, she was excited and happy. She talked and sang songs non-stop all the way to Naperville (45 minute drive). I don’t think I’ve ever been asked “Why?” and “What’s that?” so many times in a 45 minute period.
As we pulled into Naperville, we passed a Wendy’s. Sydney saw it and asked, “We going to the chicken nugget restaurant?”
I said, “No. We’re going to the church and after that we’re going to a pizza restaurant.”
She replied, “I want chicken nuggets.”
I said, “Well, you don’t get to pick.”
“Why?”
“ It’s Auntie Courtney’s wedding, so she gets to pick, and she wants pizza.”
“Why?”
“Well, that’s what she picked. When you have a wedding, you can pick what we have for dinner.”
“Where my wedding go?”
“Oh, Sydney….”
Finally, we arrived at the church. We were a bit early. I asked her if she wanted to change into a dress that I had brought for her. She said yes, and was highly amused that I expected her to get changed in the car. She giggled and pointed out that she was naked in the car.
My family was gathering inside the church. As soon as we walked in, Sydney put on the shy routine, as expected. She buried her face in my shoulder and wouldn’t even look up for my mom, who is one of her favorite people in the world. She completely refused to participate in the rehersal, and Kendall had to practice walking down the aisle herself.
After the first run-through, I ended up sitting in a pew near the front of the church with both Sydney and Kendall. The rest of the wedding party was busy getting instructions of some kind from the pastor. I pulled out Sydney’s magnetic princess dress-up toy. This was a HUGE hit with both girls. They played happily and Sydney finally loosened up. Once she had relaxed, I asked her if she wanted to practice walking down the aisle. She and Kendall happily skipped up and down the aisle, holding hands, and that led to chasing each other around the church and generally running amuck. This was fine with me. I figured that the more comfortable she got in the church, the better the odds of her walking down the aisle at the actual wedding.
We all left the church and went to the pizza place for dinner. We had a huge private room, but we only took up about half of it. This was ideal, since it left plenty of space for Sydney and Kendall to continue running amuck. There was much giggling, singing, ring-around-the-rosying, and general silliness until my sister Emily (Kendall’s mommy) and I decreed it was time to go home. Sydney was very sweet when we left and gave good-bye hugs and kisses to all her aunts and my grandparents. Unfortunately, she had a meltdown once we were outside and had to actually get in the car, but all in all, I was very proud of her behavior.
On Friday, I had taken the entire day off work and I kept Sydney home from school. Mike had some work to do, but he didn’t want to waste time commuting down to his office. Working at home is difficult with a toddler who loves her daddy, so he headed off to a coffee shop first thing in the morning. Sydney and I lounged around in our jammies for awhile. She was clearly a little out of sorts. She was clinging to me more than usual and didn’t really want to do anything. I wondered if she was getting nervous about the wedding.
We finally got dressed and went to Dunkin Donuts for breakfast. Sydney ate all the chocolate frosting off her long john, as usual. After that, we went to Kohl’s. Earlier in the week, Sydney’s class had had a pretend wedding so that she could practice walking down the aisle. One of the kids’ moms was there, and she must have said something about rings. This got twisted up in Sydney’s head, and for some reason she ended up thinking that she was getting earrings at the wedding. She was very upset when Mike and I said there were no earrings at the wedding. So I agreed that she could wear earrings, and we went to Kohl’s and got some stick-on kid earrings. (Sydney does not have pierced ears.)
We also had to pick out a mother’s day present for my mom at Kohl’s. As I was standing at the jewelry counter picking something out, Sydney came running over to me, saying at the top of her lungs, “Mommy! You gotta change my diaper! There’s poop in it!” Awesome. Thanks for sharing that with the entire store. Unfortunately, I had left the diaper bag in the car, so changing her in the store wasn’t a viable option. I quickly finished my jewelry transaction as the smell of poo wafted up to me. I changed her in the car, which she thought was hysterical.
When we got home, I suggested that since it was a nice day, we pack a picnic lunch and go to the park before naptime. Sydney thought that was a great idea. As usual, I let her choose the park, and she chose one that was a good 30 minute jog away. She sat happily in the jogging stroller, chatting and singing non-stop the whole way there. At the park, we sat on a bench and ate our lunch. Then she informed me that she wanted to go home. Don’t you want to play? No. I couldn’t convince her otherwise, so we left without playing. I’m not sure what happened there. She was very happy and content in the stroller on the way home, and took her nap without protest.
While she was napping, I did a conference call for work, and Mike got home. We got ready to go and when Sydney woke up, we left. We were leaving early because I didn’t want to have to deal with Friday rush hour traffic. Unfortunately, we did get stuck in traffic for about 20 minutes, but Sydney was very good.
We went to my Aunt Pam’s (Courtney’s mom) house, where the bride and all the bridesmaids were getting ready. They all looked beautiful. I got Sydney changed into her dress. She briefly put on the shy act, but loosened up quickly once Kendall arrived.
Finally, it was time to go to the church. We explained to Sydney that the bridal party was going to ride in the limo, and she could go with them, but it was also OK if she wanted to ride with Mom and Dad in our car. She took one look at the white stretched Hummer in front of the house and said with confidence, “Limo.” I followed her out to the car, but she ran ahead of me and even let the limo driver lift her into the car. I had time to stick my head into the limo and snap a few pictures, and then we were off.
When we arrived at the church, the wedding party decided to wait in the limo until it was time to start. Sydney wanted to wait with them. I was very nervous about just leaving her, but Mike convinced me to go. We took our seats in the church and waited for the wedding to begin. I had imagined that one of us would stand in the back of the church with her until it was time for her to walk down, but in the end, we decided that it might be better if we weren’t there.
The wedding procession began and everything was perfect. The bridesmaids were beautiful and the groomsmen were very handsome. After all 3 couples walked down the aisle, it was time for the flower girls. I looked to the back of the church, and the only people left standing there were Sydney, Kendall, and the church’s wedding coordinator. The wedding coordinator was saying something to the girls. Then they joined hands and walked confidently down the aisle. I almost cried. They were supposed to stop when they got to our pew (we were in the second one from the front) and sit with us, but they walked right by. I reached out and took Kendall’s arm to guide her into the pew, but Sydney tried to pull her up to the front! It was pretty cute. We finally got them situated with us, and then it was time for the bride to walk down the aisle. She looked perfect.
Sydney and Kendall got a little antsy during the ceremony, but managed to stay in their seats until the end. We were seated right next to the musicians, and as the ceremony ended, they struck up the recessional. That scared the crap out of Sydney and she started screaming. I quickly fled to the back of the church with her. Kendall had to go potty at the same time, so we all went down to the basement together to find the bathroom. Sydney quickly recovered and would have liked to stay in the basement and play. We had to convince her to go back upstairs for pictures.
By the time pictures were over, it was 7:30. Sydney’s bedtime is 8:00, and it had been a long day. She was on the ragged edge. She had a meltdown in the parking lot because she didn’t understand that we were all going to the reception. She had thought that Kendall wasn’t coming because she went in a different car. During the drive to the reception, she told us that she didn’t want to go and wanted to go home to bed. We convinced her to at least try it.
The reception was at Gibson’s steak house, and it was very nice. We had a private room with it’s own bar and a little outdoor patio area. The girls had a lot of fun running around outside. However, we had to head off several meltdowns. Sydney had become very touchy. In particular, she was having a severe case of Grandma Envy whenever my mom paid attention to Kendall.
Everyone at the reception fawned all over the girls and told us how beautiful they were and how great they were at the ceremony. Unfortunately, Sydney was doing the shy thing and cried whenever a stranger approached her.
One strange thing about the restaurant was that the bathrooms were upstairs. There was an elevator right outside our private room that we had to take up to the bathroom. I took Sydney and Kendall several times. The attendant in the bathroom was totally enchanted with them, and Sydney thought it was very funny that she helped her wash and dry her hands.
Sydney finally folded around 10pm. I changed her into her jammies and we headed home. We are so proud of her. She was scared, but she did such a wonderful job and looked so beautiful. We couldn’t have asked for a better night.
On Thursday, I picked her up early from school to take her to the rehearsal. Mike couldn’t get off work early to come with us, so it was just us girls. Usually when I pick her up early from school, right at the end of nap time, she is tired and cranky. This time, she was excited and happy. She talked and sang songs non-stop all the way to Naperville (45 minute drive). I don’t think I’ve ever been asked “Why?” and “What’s that?” so many times in a 45 minute period.
As we pulled into Naperville, we passed a Wendy’s. Sydney saw it and asked, “We going to the chicken nugget restaurant?”
I said, “No. We’re going to the church and after that we’re going to a pizza restaurant.”
She replied, “I want chicken nuggets.”
I said, “Well, you don’t get to pick.”
“Why?”
“ It’s Auntie Courtney’s wedding, so she gets to pick, and she wants pizza.”
“Why?”
“Well, that’s what she picked. When you have a wedding, you can pick what we have for dinner.”
“Where my wedding go?”
“Oh, Sydney….”
Finally, we arrived at the church. We were a bit early. I asked her if she wanted to change into a dress that I had brought for her. She said yes, and was highly amused that I expected her to get changed in the car. She giggled and pointed out that she was naked in the car.
My family was gathering inside the church. As soon as we walked in, Sydney put on the shy routine, as expected. She buried her face in my shoulder and wouldn’t even look up for my mom, who is one of her favorite people in the world. She completely refused to participate in the rehersal, and Kendall had to practice walking down the aisle herself.
After the first run-through, I ended up sitting in a pew near the front of the church with both Sydney and Kendall. The rest of the wedding party was busy getting instructions of some kind from the pastor. I pulled out Sydney’s magnetic princess dress-up toy. This was a HUGE hit with both girls. They played happily and Sydney finally loosened up. Once she had relaxed, I asked her if she wanted to practice walking down the aisle. She and Kendall happily skipped up and down the aisle, holding hands, and that led to chasing each other around the church and generally running amuck. This was fine with me. I figured that the more comfortable she got in the church, the better the odds of her walking down the aisle at the actual wedding.
We all left the church and went to the pizza place for dinner. We had a huge private room, but we only took up about half of it. This was ideal, since it left plenty of space for Sydney and Kendall to continue running amuck. There was much giggling, singing, ring-around-the-rosying, and general silliness until my sister Emily (Kendall’s mommy) and I decreed it was time to go home. Sydney was very sweet when we left and gave good-bye hugs and kisses to all her aunts and my grandparents. Unfortunately, she had a meltdown once we were outside and had to actually get in the car, but all in all, I was very proud of her behavior.
On Friday, I had taken the entire day off work and I kept Sydney home from school. Mike had some work to do, but he didn’t want to waste time commuting down to his office. Working at home is difficult with a toddler who loves her daddy, so he headed off to a coffee shop first thing in the morning. Sydney and I lounged around in our jammies for awhile. She was clearly a little out of sorts. She was clinging to me more than usual and didn’t really want to do anything. I wondered if she was getting nervous about the wedding.
We finally got dressed and went to Dunkin Donuts for breakfast. Sydney ate all the chocolate frosting off her long john, as usual. After that, we went to Kohl’s. Earlier in the week, Sydney’s class had had a pretend wedding so that she could practice walking down the aisle. One of the kids’ moms was there, and she must have said something about rings. This got twisted up in Sydney’s head, and for some reason she ended up thinking that she was getting earrings at the wedding. She was very upset when Mike and I said there were no earrings at the wedding. So I agreed that she could wear earrings, and we went to Kohl’s and got some stick-on kid earrings. (Sydney does not have pierced ears.)
We also had to pick out a mother’s day present for my mom at Kohl’s. As I was standing at the jewelry counter picking something out, Sydney came running over to me, saying at the top of her lungs, “Mommy! You gotta change my diaper! There’s poop in it!” Awesome. Thanks for sharing that with the entire store. Unfortunately, I had left the diaper bag in the car, so changing her in the store wasn’t a viable option. I quickly finished my jewelry transaction as the smell of poo wafted up to me. I changed her in the car, which she thought was hysterical.
When we got home, I suggested that since it was a nice day, we pack a picnic lunch and go to the park before naptime. Sydney thought that was a great idea. As usual, I let her choose the park, and she chose one that was a good 30 minute jog away. She sat happily in the jogging stroller, chatting and singing non-stop the whole way there. At the park, we sat on a bench and ate our lunch. Then she informed me that she wanted to go home. Don’t you want to play? No. I couldn’t convince her otherwise, so we left without playing. I’m not sure what happened there. She was very happy and content in the stroller on the way home, and took her nap without protest.
While she was napping, I did a conference call for work, and Mike got home. We got ready to go and when Sydney woke up, we left. We were leaving early because I didn’t want to have to deal with Friday rush hour traffic. Unfortunately, we did get stuck in traffic for about 20 minutes, but Sydney was very good.
We went to my Aunt Pam’s (Courtney’s mom) house, where the bride and all the bridesmaids were getting ready. They all looked beautiful. I got Sydney changed into her dress. She briefly put on the shy act, but loosened up quickly once Kendall arrived.
Finally, it was time to go to the church. We explained to Sydney that the bridal party was going to ride in the limo, and she could go with them, but it was also OK if she wanted to ride with Mom and Dad in our car. She took one look at the white stretched Hummer in front of the house and said with confidence, “Limo.” I followed her out to the car, but she ran ahead of me and even let the limo driver lift her into the car. I had time to stick my head into the limo and snap a few pictures, and then we were off.
When we arrived at the church, the wedding party decided to wait in the limo until it was time to start. Sydney wanted to wait with them. I was very nervous about just leaving her, but Mike convinced me to go. We took our seats in the church and waited for the wedding to begin. I had imagined that one of us would stand in the back of the church with her until it was time for her to walk down, but in the end, we decided that it might be better if we weren’t there.
The wedding procession began and everything was perfect. The bridesmaids were beautiful and the groomsmen were very handsome. After all 3 couples walked down the aisle, it was time for the flower girls. I looked to the back of the church, and the only people left standing there were Sydney, Kendall, and the church’s wedding coordinator. The wedding coordinator was saying something to the girls. Then they joined hands and walked confidently down the aisle. I almost cried. They were supposed to stop when they got to our pew (we were in the second one from the front) and sit with us, but they walked right by. I reached out and took Kendall’s arm to guide her into the pew, but Sydney tried to pull her up to the front! It was pretty cute. We finally got them situated with us, and then it was time for the bride to walk down the aisle. She looked perfect.
Sydney and Kendall got a little antsy during the ceremony, but managed to stay in their seats until the end. We were seated right next to the musicians, and as the ceremony ended, they struck up the recessional. That scared the crap out of Sydney and she started screaming. I quickly fled to the back of the church with her. Kendall had to go potty at the same time, so we all went down to the basement together to find the bathroom. Sydney quickly recovered and would have liked to stay in the basement and play. We had to convince her to go back upstairs for pictures.
By the time pictures were over, it was 7:30. Sydney’s bedtime is 8:00, and it had been a long day. She was on the ragged edge. She had a meltdown in the parking lot because she didn’t understand that we were all going to the reception. She had thought that Kendall wasn’t coming because she went in a different car. During the drive to the reception, she told us that she didn’t want to go and wanted to go home to bed. We convinced her to at least try it.
The reception was at Gibson’s steak house, and it was very nice. We had a private room with it’s own bar and a little outdoor patio area. The girls had a lot of fun running around outside. However, we had to head off several meltdowns. Sydney had become very touchy. In particular, she was having a severe case of Grandma Envy whenever my mom paid attention to Kendall.
Everyone at the reception fawned all over the girls and told us how beautiful they were and how great they were at the ceremony. Unfortunately, Sydney was doing the shy thing and cried whenever a stranger approached her.
One strange thing about the restaurant was that the bathrooms were upstairs. There was an elevator right outside our private room that we had to take up to the bathroom. I took Sydney and Kendall several times. The attendant in the bathroom was totally enchanted with them, and Sydney thought it was very funny that she helped her wash and dry her hands.
Sydney finally folded around 10pm. I changed her into her jammies and we headed home. We are so proud of her. She was scared, but she did such a wonderful job and looked so beautiful. We couldn’t have asked for a better night.